182 NEIGHBOURS UNKNOWN 



eye had told him that the animal was an old 

 bull. His necessity was not fierce enough to 

 drive him to the eating of such flesh tough 

 and reeking to nausea with musk. He 

 wanted a young cow whose meat would be 

 tender and sweet as caribou. He was con- 

 tent to wait, knowing that the herd must be 

 near, and would not leave these feeding- 

 grounds unless frightened. At this season 

 the black bull, there staring at him heavily 

 through the drift, would not be solitary. 



The man was a trapper, who was making 

 his way down the river to the Hudson Bay 

 Company's post at the mouth. Through 

 failure of the caribou to come his way accord- 

 ing to their custom, his supplies had run 

 short, and he was seeking the post in good time 

 before the pinch of hunger should fix itself 

 upon him. But he had had bad luck. The 

 failure of the caribou had hit others besides 

 himself. The wolves had suffered by it. 

 Perhaps, in their shrewd and savage spirits, 

 they had blamed the man for the absence 

 of their accustomed quarry. Some weeks 

 before his start they had craftily picked off 

 his dogs a reasonable and satisfying re- 

 taliation. And now the man was hauling 

 the sledge himself. 



In a moment's lift of the storm, the man 



